Muscle Theory
by Constable Paperbag
Summary: Growing up around girls, Jaune had to put up with a lot of talks about how hot muscles were. He didn't understand the appeal. What was the big deal about muscles, anyway? More importantly, why was he getting flustered over the sight of Pyrrha at the gym? He wasn't staring at her arms. Honest.


**Wow, two updates in one day. Must be Christmas or something.**

 **Anyway, this was an idea that I came up with recently and decided to write it while it was still fresh. I've been bitten by the writing bug lately, so I'm kinda on a roll at the moment. Anyway, enjoy.**

* * *

 _Dang it, not again! He should've expected something like this to happen. The day had been going so well. Too well._

 _It was a quiet day in the Arc family household. No one was watching TV, meaning it was finally free for him to use. When you lived in a house with nine other people, having the TV all to yourself was rare. Like 'finding true love' levels of rare. He could barely play his game console because of it. So when he heard silence coming from the lounge, he did what any twelve-year-old boy would do and rushed down to play his games. He hadn't played Ninja Fighter X 3 in forever and his skills were getting rusty._

 _And then he spotted it, lying on the couch exposed to the world. One look at it made him feel like his eyes had been washed in acid. It almost ruined his good mood._

 _Another one of his sisters' dirty magazines..._

 _This was, what, the eighth time he had found one just lying around? It wasn't even closed this time! Lying on its back, it had its contents spilling out like an upturned dumpster. He had caught a glimpse of a naked man wearing nothing but a builders hat (sexy builders? Really? Who was that meant to appeal to?) before he looked away in disgust. He could feel the man's eyes from the picture staring into the back of his head. It gave him shivers, and not the kind his sisters got when they looked at this stuff._

" _Just great," he sighed. He was always the one to tell his sisters to stop leaving this stuff lying around. Couldn't they take better care of their stuff, especially if it was stuff like this? It would be like him leaving his dirty underwear on the couch - nobody wanted to see it! Averting his eyes, he closed the magazine. He felt dirty touching it, like he had poked a pile of manure._

 _At least the front cover was somewhat tame. Just another shirtless guy who at least had the decency to wear some trousers. But he was still shirtless, and it made him feel weird. There was no way he could play his games with this thing in the room. It was so humiliating that he recognised the name of the magazine. His sister Clover always bought these issues. He was gonna have to give it back to her. Again!_

 _He made his way to Clover's room, holding the magazine with pinched fingers. He knocked on the door and after a few seconds, she opened it. She looked confused at his scowling face until she saw what was in his hands. Her expression brightened up when she saw it._

" _There it is!" she exclaimed, quickly snatching the magazine out of his hand. He was all too happy to let it go. "I've been looking all over for this issue. I thought I lost it. Thanks, Jauney."_

 _The way she smiled at the front cover made him wanna puke. It was bad enough finding his sister's dirty material. Seeing her react to it was something else. He had seen roadkill less disgusting than this. Did she even realise he was still in the room?_

" _I hate having to pick up after you all," he grumbled. "Can't you just leave that trash in your room where it belongs?"_

" _Whoa, hold on now, this isn't trash!" Clover said. "This is quality material right here. Just look at the pecs on this guy! Look!"_

 _She pretty much shoved the magazine in his face. An incoming picture of a shirtless man headed straight for him before he could react. He could feel the pages rubbing against his face. To Jaune, it reminded him of that time a bully had tried to shove his head down a toilet._

" _Get that away from me!" he snapped, slapping his hands around, nearly causing the magazine to fly out of her hands. "Keep it to yourself! I don't wanna see that stuff!"_

" _Quit being such a baby. It's just a picture."_

" _I don't wanna see it!"_

" _Fine, fine," she sighed with a roll of her eyes. "Geez, people are never gonna think you're manly if you keep reacting like that."_

 _He huffed. "What would you know about being manly? You're a girl."_

 _An impish smirk stretched across her lips. "Oh, I've got everything I need to know right here." She wiggled the magazine before him. Another shiver of disgust passed through him. "Maybe you should start reading these? You might learn a thing or two. I can lend you some if you want. I've got plenty."_

 _If he threw up on her floor, it would be her fault._

" _I told you, I don't wanna go anywhere near those things! Besides, they're just full of naked dudes. That's not manly, that's gross!"_

 _She raised an eyebrow. "So you have been reading them?"_

 _His face beamed red. "You left it open!" he spluttered. His older sister didn't seem convinced. Ugh, he was gonna get teased for days about this. "M-My point is there's nothing in there that can teach me anything. It's just porn. Stop trying to defend porn!"_

 _Clover tutted her head like a disappointed teacher. So, like any teacher he had ever had ever. "You're looking at it all wrong. Any guy can just strip down and get nude. But there's something these guys have here that all those other ones don't. Have another look."_

 _Uh, no thank you. He had seen enough already. He turned to leave but she grabbed him by the arm. Why did everyone have to be stronger than him? He was helplessly dragged back into the room as his sister shoved the magazine back in his face again. This must have been karma for all those times he snuck downstairs at night to eat candy. If he promised never to do it again, would the Gods finally show mercy on him?_

" _What are you doing?" he complained as his eyes were forced to meet the magazine._

" _Educating you. Look at this guy here. Do you see what he's got?"_

 _Trousers, which was nice. His sister had at least been kind enough to show him a picture where a guy had some clothes on. He was still shirtless though. They all were. Were these models or homeless people in these pictures? They all needed more clothes._

" _I don't know!"_

" _Whaddya mean, you don't know? Argh, do I have to spell it out for you?" Her finger pointed to the man's arms. "Biceps." Then to his chest. "Pecs." Then to his stomach. "Abs." Her finger circled that spot for a while. "Oho, this is the good stuff right here," she purred._

" _If you're gonna keep being gross, I'm leaving!"_

" _Muscles, Jauney! I'm saying he's got muscles. Don't tell me you don't see it? You're not that dumb."_

 _He took another look at the picture, if only so that he could leave quicker. Yeah, he was muscular and had a pretty handsome face, though that was a given. Plain people didn't make it into the model industry. Even though he knew girls drooled over things like this, he didn't see the appeal. That wasn't just because he was a guy. From an objective standpoint, he didn't understand what made muscles so attractive. To him, they were just muscles. That's it._

" _Yeah, I see he's got muscles," Jaune said. "I just don't care. He's got muscles. Big deal."_

 _His sister groaned and shook her head. Well, what was she expecting him to say? He didn't want to be here. If she wanted to talk about these things, she had six other sisters to talk to. They'd love to gossip about stupid things like this._

" _What?"_

" _You can be such dummy at times," she muttered. She held the magazine a little closer, as if that would make a difference. "You really don't get it, do you?"_

" _Yeah, yeah, girls like muscles. What else is new? Can I go now?"_

" _Not so fast. Why do you think I like them?"_

 _Jaune blinked. "How am I supposed to know that? Wait, no, I don't care! I wanna go!" He made to leave, but Clover managed to get a hold of him again. See, this is why he needed hunter training! So he could escape from situations like this. If he told his dad that this was what he had to deal with, he might consider training him at last._

" _Sit down and learn," she said, pushing him down on the chair next to her desk. In some ways, he was grateful for it. At least the magazine wasn't directly in his face now. She still held it in front of him though. The way she was standing made it seem like she was gonna give him a lecture. A lecture about muscles…_

 _Kill him. Do it now._

" _Muscles aren't something that just appear out of nowhere," she explained. "People aren't born with huge biceps and rock-hard six packs. You gotta work for them." She pointed to the picture of the man. "You know what I see when I look at this? Someone who knows how to commit. Someone who works hard to achieve that body."_

" _You know that picture is probably photoshopped, right?"_

" _Doesn't matter. A lot of guys complain about muscular guys and it's because they're jealous. Not so much because they don't look like that themselves, but because they know they don't have the discipline to work themselves into shape. So they just sit around, get fat and bitch about everyone who puts the work into improving themselves. Kinda like you at times."_

 _His eyes narrowed. "I'm not fat," he muttered._

" _You know what I mean. The way I see it, there are two types of people in the world: those that complain, and those who know how to put in the work. You can tell who's who just by looking at their stomach."_

… _okay, maybe she did have a point there._

 _He wasn't stupid. He knew it took a lot of hard work to get big and muscular. He always dreamed of having huge muscles himself one day, but things like exercise weren't high on his priorities. He certainly wasn't jealous of men and even some of the guys at school who were bigger than him, but a part of him was a tiny bit envious that he didn't look like that too. At least he wasn't fat. He was still thankful for that._

" _What are you saying? You find muscles attractive because they're a sign of hard work?" Maybe there was something meaningful to this conversation after all._

" _Yeah, that definitely helps." She looked back at the magazine again. "But come on, look at these things!" she said with glee. "Think of how much strength these bad boys have! Oooh, I'm getting shivers just thinking about it!"_

 _And there it was again. Her superficial and absolutely perverted reasons for liking these magazines reared their ugly heads again. Why was he even here? He had games to play._

" _That's it, I'm leaving," he announced._

" _Yeah, yeah, sure. Think whatever you want of me. But I know that one day you'll feel the same way."_

" _There's no way I'm gonna find men attractive!"_

" _Not that, stupid," she scoffed. "One of these days you'll understand just how hot muscles are. The power they have, to even how they look. It's impossible not to love them."_

" _I don't care about any of that stuff!" he cried._

" _Maybe not now," she smiled devilishly. "But one of these days, little brother. One of these days."_

 _That was enough! He left the room as quickly as he could, slamming the door behind him. He could hear Clover's muffled giggles from behind the closed door. No doubt she was looking at the magazine again and being all creepy about it. He could almost picture her lying on her bed, drooling over those pictures like a hungry dog. His stomach churned. It had been doing that way too much today._

 _He was gonna have to bleach his brain to forget this whole encounter. Then he remembered what he was about to do before that nightmare. His games console was still downstairs patiently waiting for him. What better way to forget things than with mind-numbing entertainment? He was gonna have to sit extra close to the TV. Sometimes a little radiation was good for the brain._

 _He rushed downstairs like it was Christmas morning-_

 _-only to see his sister Rose now occupied the couch and was watching a movie._

 _She looked up at him. "Oh, hey, Jaune," she muttered nonchalantly._

 _Life! Wasn't! Fair!_

[/]

When Jaune checked the weather this morning, the weatherman had said tonight would be cloudy with a chance of rain. What he forgot to mention was all the thunder, the lightning and even the bit of hail that came with that promise.

The elements battered mercilessly against the windows that were designed to repel bullets and Grimm attacks. Looking at the storm outside though, he wouldn't be surprised if the rain was able to pierce its way through the glass. It was like the heavens themselves had decided to wage war against the school in the wettest way it could think of. He pitied the poor guy who would have to walk outside in this weather.

Pyrrha stood by his side watching the storm. The two were in awe by the thing. This had been one of the worst storms they had had in a while. "I guess training's off for tonight then, huh?" he said.

"We could still go up to the roof anyway," she suggested playfully. "The weather might make things more dramatic."

"Do I look like the kinda guy you'd call 'dramatic?'"

She looked him up and down. "Does ' _overly_ dramatic' count?" she smirked.

"... you're mean."

The two laughed right as another thunderclap went off. "We can still go to the gym tonight," she said. "A little bad weather shouldn't stop us from exercising. If we head down now, we can easily spend at least an hour there."

It was a good plan. The two grabbed their gym clothes and headed down. It was unlikely anyone would be down there. Despite it being a school for hunters-in-training, rarely any of the students squeezed in an hour or two of exercise before bed. The bad weather certainly didn't help. Everyone was likely trying to get as cosy as possible. In a way, this was a good thing. It meant more of the equipment would be free to use.

True enough, the place was empty when they arrived. Not even the radio was on. The stormy weather combined with the lifeless room, the place was kinda spooky. He half expected the ghosts of students who had died of exhaustion to come floating out of the walls, wailing about their unfortunate demise and- why the hell was he thinking that now? He hated his brain at times.

They went to their separate changing rooms. He had brought with him a plain white t-shirt and black shorts for his gym wear. The shirt was one of the few things he wore without the Pumpkin Pete logo, something that he was slightly embarrassed to admit. He really needed a change of wardrobe, but he would defend his hoodie and onesie to his last dying breath.

He inspected himself in the mirror. He had definitely gotten a little broader during his time in Beacon. Not as big as some of the other guys, but there was definitely an improvement. He was no longer the scrawny welp he had started off as when he first came here. To think it only took several life-threatening experiences to make him decide to get in shape. Hey, whatever motivation worked.

He waited for Pyrrha to get ready and looked around the empty gym. What should he work on first? Maybe he should focus on legs today. Apparently, it was a rule to never miss 'leg day' at the gym, according to Nora and Yang. He never really understood that, as his legs were moving all the time. Really, every day was leg day if you thought about it-

"I'm ready. Sorry for the wait," came the voice of Pyrrha.

He turned around. "That's alright," he began to say-

-and then he stopped dead in his tracks.

The first thing he noticed was that Pyrrha wasn't in her usual gym gear. The leggings she had on were the same, but the sports bra was new. Black and with a picture of her emblem on it, it was something he had never seen her wear before. That was the first thing he noticed and it held his attention for a few seconds. It was the second thing he saw that made his words die in his throat.

The bra now gave him a good view of her shoulders, arms and stomach. It was only now did he realise how… toned his partner was. Like him, she wasn't ripped like some of the other students, but her muscles were way more noticeable than his. Her shoulders were broad, her arms looked powerful, and he could see the faint outline of her abs. She had abs! He didn't even have abs yet!

He couldn't help but stare. Her muscles weren't too big nor too bulky. She had a lean but powerful figure. Everything about her body screamed strength. Like, damn! How had he not noticed this before? Her combat armour was already pretty revealing. Where was she hiding all this power?

It was kinda… hot…

"-une? Jaune?"

Pyrrha's voice sounded muffled at first until it suddenly rang clear in his ears. He looked up at her so quickly his head almost shot off his neck. "Uh, whu?" he stumbled out.

"I said, are you okay? You spaced out for a moment."

Oh geez, how long had he been staring? The last thing he wanted was her to think he was a pervert. But could anyone blame him for staring like that? Especially when she was flaunting what she had.

Wait, _flaunting_? Why was he thinking like that? This was his partner, damn it!

"Uh, it's nothing," he said unconvincingly. _Meet her eyes, idiot. You do it all the time._ "You're, um… you're pretty muscular."

She looked down at herself as if his observation was news to her. She inspected her arms and abs. "Haha, I suppose I am," she chuckled. "It's all thanks to my tournament training and my training here. It'd be odd if I _hadn't_ gained any muscle."

"I-I guess so…" It was hard to formulate words with such a sight staring at him in the face.

Thankfully, Pyrrha seemed oblivious to his staring and smiled like nothing was wrong. "You've put on a bit of muscle yourself. You should feel proud of yourself, Jaune."

 _Trust me, Pyrrha, you're the star of the show here._

"Anyway, we should start now. Let's begin by doing some stretches." She raised her arms over her head and stretched her body backwards.

 _Ay caramba!_

Watching her body tense up like that made his face turn as red as her hair. Her body was like a well-oiled machine. Every muscle was perfectly defined and carried within them the strength of champions. He swallowed hard as he imagined what it would be like to run his fingers across those delicious abs-

-argh, stop thinking like that! This is Pyrrha you're talking about! Don't make this weird, idiot!

He tried distracting himself by making small talk. "How come I've never seen you wear that before?" he said, his eyes gesturing to her bra. It was a strange day when staring at a girl's bra was probably more polite than what he was looking at before.

"My normal shirt's in the wash," she told him, still doing her stretches. She wasn't making this easy for him. "This is the only other thing I had. I used to wear it when I was training for the tournaments."

"I see. It's… it's a good look for you."

She temporarily stopped one of her arm stretches. "Oh. Um… thank you."

Great. Now even she looked a little flustered. He could see her cheeks turn the slightest bit pink. Yes, her face. Just keep focusing on her face. Don't pay attention to those broad shoulders, strong arms, and those abs… look, just forget about the abs. The abs do not exist. He had to erase those things from his memory.

The two stood in awkward silence for what felt like an eternity. Him being spellbound by her killer body, and she being more than confused by the whole thing. They had never been in a situation like this before. Trust him to create an awkward moment with even his own partner.

"We should start training now," he mumbled. Before Pyrrha could respond, he was already making his way to the treadmill. Perhaps a ten-minute leg-breaking jog would clear his head. He set it to his usual speed and tried to run away from his thoughts. Looking back, he could see that Pyrrha had picked up a set of weights and was doing bicep curls.

Watching her out of the corner of his eye, he was reminded of a time back when he was a kid. When his sister gave him that painful lecture about why muscles were the best thing ever. Back then, he was barely paying attention. Listening to her gush over muscles was the last thing his twelve-year-old ears needed to hear.

Looking back though… maybe she had a point after all?

Pyrrha was the embodiment of strength. Not only was she strong-minded, but she was also physically strong too. She was everything he aspired to achieve. Looking at her now, seeing that determined expression on her face, it was like looking at his hearts desires manifested into a physical form. She was the perfection he strived for.

Sheesh, he hadn't felt this many butterflies inside him since the time he crushed on Weiss. The treadmill wasn't the only thing making his heart beat faster.

He saw Pyrrha turn her head his way.

 _Eyes forward, Jaune!_ He kept his gaze glued to the wall in front of him. Gods, this was going to be the longest gym session of his life.

[/]

He was staring at her. She could feel it.

Every now and then, she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. A trait she had learned as a huntress when she was being watched. And then every time she would look his way, he was conveniently looking somewhere else. But she would always catch that look on his face. That split second of looking guilty but then acting like nothing happened.

This went on for the entire hour. He would quickly look away from her and then stutter whilst talking, like he was a fan of hers finally getting to meet her for the first time. It was his eyes. She recognised the look in his eyes, understood the feeling behind it. It was the same look she gave him when he wasn't looking. He was staring at her like… like he was attracted to her!

Her heart did somersaults in her chest. This was the kind of attention she dreamed of receiving from him. Ever since he had stopped pining after Weiss, she had hoped he'd set his eyes on her instead. It felt like her wishes were finally coming true!

But why now? Why was he only now looking at her like that?

She inspected herself in the locker room mirror. She didn't think she had done anything different today. She had treated him like how she normally did and didn't even drop one of her subtle hints that she was interested in him. Though maybe they weren't that subtle if he was finally picking up on them.

About the only thing she had done differently was wear her old sports bra. Looking at it, it was definitely more revealing than what she normally wore, especially when it came to two… assets of hers. But Jaune was no pervert. He would never stare at her chest so brazenly. More than that, she knew that's not what he was staring at. There was a certain uncomfortable feeling you got when you knew a guy was looking at your breasts. She and Yang understood this. She didn't get that from Jaune. So what was it?

Speaking of Yang, the rowdy blonde came into the room with her gym bag slung over her shoulder. "Hey, Pyrrha," she said cheerfully. "Here for a late night workout sesh?"

Pyrrha turned and smiled at her. "Hello, Yang. I've just finished actually. Though I can be your spotter if you like?"

"Sure, that'd be great." Yang looked at her body for a moment and whistled approvingly. "Damn, girl. Looking good. You must've been working hard."

"What makes you say that?"

"Are you kidding? Look at those arms! I'd kill to have arms like that!"

Her arms? "Oh, well, thank you," she chuckled. In all honesty, she didn't think she looked any more muscular than normal.

"I'm serious, you look awesome. I need to step up my training if I'm gonna look like you. I'm kinda jealous actually."

Yang Xiao Long? Jealous? Now that was a first. The blonde pretty much had every attractive trait in the book perfected.

She was a little overwhelmed by the praise. "You're too kind," she said. "Well, if you like, I can show you some of my training exercises. Only if you're interested, of course."

"You kidding? Hell yeah, I'm interested! I wanna train like a champ too. Man, Jaune sure is lucky to have a partner like you."

That was nice, but really, she was lucky to have a partner like him. Still, hearing his name reminded her of something.

"You know, it's funny," she said. "He complimented my muscles too."

"Can you blame him? If I were a guy with a working brain and saw a girl like you with abs like that, I'd be drooling over you too."

Uh, drooling wasn't _quite_ the word she'd use to describe him. That said… he did look a little flustered when talking about them.

Wait a minute…

"Anyway, I'm gonna head in now. You coming, Pyrrha?" Yang said, now in her gym gear.

Pyrrha was lost in thought. "Uh, you go on ahead. I'll join you in a minute," she mumbled. When she was alone, she inspected herself in the mirror again. She hadn't really paid much attention to her physique before. She knew she wasn't fat, and her instructors never criticised it.

Now though, she noticed how strong she looked. Definitely muscular, but not so much that it robbed her of her femininity. Without trying to sound arrogant, she did look like a model of physical perfection. And apparently, he noticed it too…

Her reflection smiled back at her. She had a feeling she was going to get a lot of use out of this sports bra…

* * *

 **Tall muscular girls are gorgeous! You're all just cowards!**


End file.
